Thomas Hughan, merchant of Ferry Town of Cree

Thomas Hughan was born in c. 1695. He was a merchant in the settlement known at the time as Ferry Town of Cree, which became in later times 'Creetown'. He married Elizabeth McCulloch, according to his gravestone, although no record can be located for this marriage, nor any baptisms for their children.

   The only records for the marriage of a Thomas Hughan and baptismal records with Thomas as the father are for the couple Thomas Hughan and Elizabeth McSkimmin/g. They were married at Girthon, some nine miles from Creetown, on April 12, 1716, and amongst their children were Patrick, Alexander, Jane and Thomas. There are several ties with Girthon parish in the early 1700s, and it would not surprise me to discover that the Creetown/Kirkmabreck Hughans were an offshoot from the Girthon Hughan family.

Getting back to Thomas Hughan and Elizabeth McCulloch...the only definite offspring I have coming from this pair is Alexander Hughan, and that information comes solely from the inscription on his parent's grave.

   Alexander was also a merchant from Creetown. He also owned a ship in partnership with Patrick Brown of Barharrow- a sloop named the 'Ferry Town'. At the time of Alexander's death in 1771 he was owed £36-5s by the government as his half of a bounty due to he and Patrick Brown for the employment of the 'Ferry Town' in the Herring Fishery in 1766 and 1767.

Alexander Hughan married Margaret Gerrant, and although they had three children survive to adulthood, the gravestone in Kirkmabreck kirk yard also mentions the burial of three other children- Elizabeth Goldie Hughan, William Hughan and Mary McCulloch Hughan.After their name is the year '1769'...I imagine that this must be interpreted as the three young children all dying in the year 1769, just two years before their father.

   Alexander Hughan the Elder died in 1771 when his wife Margaret was only thirty years of age, so although we can't locate baptisms for their six children, we know as a certainty that they would have had to have been born in the period c. 1758-1771.

   The Scots tended to have fairly fixed naming patterns for their children, and so the first son was usually named after his paternal grandfather. In the case of this family the paternal grandfather was merchant Thomas Hughan, so Thomas Hughan son of Alexander and later known as "Thomas Hughan of Airds" was most likely the first born son of his parents, born c.1758-1760.

His siblings – Alexander and Jane, and the three children who died young- must have been born during the decade 1760-1770.

   This means that Thomas Hughan would only have been aged between 10 and 13 years at the time of his father Alexander’s death in 1771. Thomas was named as executor of his father's will, which to me seems a very young age to be nominated for this position, although times were very different back then and this may not have been unusual in 18th Century Scotland.
Alexander appointed curators and tutors for his two youngest children, Jean and Alexander. Jean would have only been about 3 years old at the time of her father’s death, and I suspect that Alexander was younger as he was always named after Jean in his father’s will.
Alexander Hughan left a will,and although his wife Margaret Gerran died intestate there exists an inventory of her estate. Wills were also made by their children Thomas, Alexander and Jane. They have all been a very useful genealogical resource, and I will reproduce them in this blog- give or take vast slabs of extremely boring 'legalese'!

Kirkmabreck Burials

Probably the best and most logical place to start this blog is at the beautiful and isolated Kirkmabreck kirk yard, where Hughan remains have been lying for centuries.
There are two Hughan graves as transcribed in the Kirkmabreck memorial Inscriptions booklet:
82: Burial place of Thomas Hughan, merchant of Ferrytown of Cree, died February 13, 1750, aged 55. Wife Elizabeth McCulloch died July 24, 1761, aged 62. They lived esteemed and died regretted. Also interred here Elizabeth Goldie, William & Mary McCulloch Hughan children to Alexander Hughan and Mary Gerrant. 1769.
Alexander Hughan died June 2, 1771 (36), he will be remembered as a worthy example of conjugal and paternal affection, integrity and public spirit, friendship and beneficence. Also interred here his widow Mrs M Hughan died may 30, 1810, aged 69...respected, her virtues are recorded in the grateful hearts of her surviving son and daughter, Thomas and Jane Hughan.

91. Burying place of Alex Hughan, late in Burns, died January 28, 1733, aged 63, wife Margaret Duniston died April 2, 1757, aged 75. Children Samuel, Peter, Alex, Helen, Agnes and Jean. Erected by Andrew Hughan in Creetown, died January 20, 1809, aged 83, wife Elizabeth Moat died April 26, 1789, aged 51.

This second grave really grabbed my attention, as my Robert Alexander Hughan had stated that he had been born at Burns, or Burns Park, Creetown, Kirkcudbright.
I set about gathering as much information as I could about the two families buried at Kirkmabreck, although due to the incomplete state of the Kirkmabreck Old Parish Records, crucial links could not be made between the two families. I can make educated guesses, and see the most probable relationships, but because of the lack of concrete proof, it will all have to remain pure speculation for the moment.
First cab off the rank will be the family of Hughan Grave number 1...Thomas Hughan, merchant, of Ferry Town of Cree. It is from this man and his wife that Janetta Hughan, Duchess of Rutland, was descended. I think I'll begin a new entry to deal with this Hughan branch of the tree...

Homeplace of my Hughans-Kirkcudbright.

Now that I have completed the story of my Hughans in London and Australia as well as I can for the moment, I can turn my attention to their homeland...the small villages of Kirkmabreck and Creetown in Kirkcudbright, southern-most Scotland.
My great-great-great grandfather Robert Alexander Hughan was born c. 1795, ‘Burns Park’ Creetown, Kirkmabreck, Kirkcudbright, Scotland.His parents were Alexander Hughan and Agnes Herris( or Herries). He was baptised on October 17, 1795, Kirkmabreck. Baptisms have been found for a brother, Alexander Hughan, on July 1, 1787, and a sister, Agnes, on June 13, 1792.
I have been researching and collecting Hughans from this specific region for years now, and they have proved very difficult to put into distinct family groups. That they are all somehow related generations back is beyond dispute- the name Hughan, or Heughan, is not a common one, and most seem to come from Kirkmabreck parish in the 18th-19th century before spreading futher afield to Galloway and other areas
The Kirkmabreck parish records, which I have examined thoroughly on the Scotlandspeople site, are very incomplete for the mid-1700s, which unfortunately is the exact period in which crucial information for my family is missing.
I plan in this blog to publish any information that I have found about Hughan families from the Kirkmabreck area..the format will be very "hodge-podge", but hopefully any Hughan researchers who may find something useful here perhaps will be able to assist me in sorting out the Hughan families and where they all fit in.
I will also place my research that I have done into the more well-known Hughans...anyone who has ever "Googled" the name Hughan will have noticed three conspicuous names continually appear...the famous Masonic author and scholar W.H Hughan, American scholar, teacher and activist Jessie Wallace Hughan, and Janetta Hughan, daughter of Thomas Hughan of Airds who through marriage became the Duchess of Rutland.I have traced all three back to Kirkmabreck through their parents and beyond, and their stories make very interesting reading.
The family legend in my family that was passed down five generations to me stated that Robert Hughan, my g-g-g grandfather, was the cousin of Sir Thomas Hughan whose daughter was the Duchess of Rutland(although Thomas Hughan was certainly never a 'Sir'!)His father Thomas Hughan was born in Creetown, parish of Kirkmabreck, and always kept a residence in the district even after he moved to Jamaica for ten years and then London.Thomas Hughan Senior had a fascinating life, right down to the drama that surrounded the making of his will on his deathbed in 1811, just prior to his bride of nine months going into labour and producing Thomas a son and heir after his death.